E3 2017: 20 Games Missing From The Show

Missing In Action

E3 can’t possibly include every game we want to hear more about. Whether it’s because they’re just not ready for a public demo or the publisher doesn’t want to reveal too much too soon, some games are always going to be left out. We’ve compiled some of the biggest games that have been previously announced but didn’t appear at the show.

Animal Crossing Mobile

With Super Mario Run setting a precedent for Nintendo franchises coming to mobile devices, we could be seeing many more making the jump in the near future. So, it would’ve been a delight to see Animal Crossing in action on phones. The community simulation game lends itself to the mobile platform; checking in to your colorful open world to rearrange your furniture, earn some bells, or visit your friends’ town all sounds so fitting. But we didn’t even get a hint of it at E3. Animal Crossing was said to go mobile back in April 2016, so it’s absence from the show was disappointing.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 was announced five years ago, and all that CD Projekt Red has to show for it is a trailer–a now four-year-old conceptual teaser. Cyberpunk 2077’s absence at E3 isn’t a surprise–CD Projekt RED gave everyone advance notice–but it’s notable given how long it’s been since we’ve learned anything new about the highly anticipated project.

There’s a chance that some info will make its way online in the near future by way of unscrupulous hackers threatening to leak early design documents, but should that occur it will only provide a glimpse of what the game could have been, and not necessarily evidence where it stands today. We know that development on the game may last until mid-2019 based on CD Projekt Red’s grant application to the Polish government. If things are going according to plan, there’s good reason to suspect that we may finally see Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 2018.

Dynasty Warriors 9

Sometime before E3, Koei Tecmo finally revealed the ninth entry from its long running action series Dynasty Warriors. As the first “fully open world” game in the series, the anticipation for the game is high for not only hardcore series fans, but even those who haven’t played the games in years. The open structure is not what you’d expect from a Dynasty Warriors game, but the added freedom and improved visuals it’s set to offer makes it one of the most exciting entries the series has had in over a decade.

However, the game was a no show at this year’s E3. According to the developers, the game was about 40% complete, which means the project still has a way to go. But we would’ve appreciated to have at least seen the game in motion.

Death Stranding

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima’s intriguing-looking next game, Death Stranding, was never going to be at E3, as developer Kojima Productions confirmed as much before the show. Still, its absence was notable, especially given the dearth of big news during Sony’s E3 2017 briefing. Kojima himself was at E3, but he was here to talk about his film aspirations as part of a cool panel with Jordan Vogt-Roberts (who is directing the Metal Gear movie for Sony).

Kojima didn’t give anything away about the project during his talk, though he did confirm that he’s a big fan of Little House on the Prairie, which is totally unexpected and cool. There is no word yet on when we’ll hear more about Death Stranding, but PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida said this week that Sony held back reveals from E3 to save them for later. Is Death Stranding one of them? We hope so, but it’s too soon to say. Death Stranding is in development for PlayStation 4, but a release date has yet to be announced

Dreams

The next game from LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule, the ambitious-sounding creation game Dreams, was nowhere to be seen at E3 2017. Sony never said it was bringing the game to E3, but its absence from Sony’s briefing and the show altogether was noticeable. Announced multiple years ago, we still do not know very much about Dreams. PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has said it’s a “next-gen creation platform” that has “much more” flexibility than LittleBigPlanet. We’re going to have to wait a while longer to find out what that means, it seems, but a beta is still reportedly on the way for 2017, so we might be playing a part of the game soon.

Deep Down

Deep Down has been dormant for some time now, but given the excitement that surrounded its initial reveal, it has the makings of a game that could make a splash if it were to show up during Sony’s E3 press conference. But it was not to be, and another show has now gone by without any word from Capcom about where things stand or if Deep Down is even still in development.

First revealed for PS4 in 2013, the co-op dungeon crawler was subsequently revealed to be a free-to-play game. Delays ensued, leading to Capcom reassuring fans in 2015 that the game had not been canceled. However, producer Yoshinori Ono says (best known for the Street Fighter series) added that changes were being made to the design. He suggested the original ideas Capcom had “might not have been good enough” and that its plans were now “much larger,” but the company has largely gone silent ever since, save for a recent trademark filing.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

The highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake is built from the ground up with fully polygonal graphics as opposed to the pre-rendered environments of the original. It also features a real-time combat system similar to Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts. The game was originally announced at E3 2015 for great fanfare, but the last time we saw it was at PSX 2015. Ever since then, a series of details have emerged, like the project’s development switching over to entirely in-house, as well as an investor’s document alluding to the game not coming out until 2018 at the earliest. Despite these developments, it’s still peculiar that the game had zero presence at this year’s show.

Hitman: Season 2

Of course, it’s understandable that Hitman Season 2 didn’t make an appearance at E3 given the recent events at IO Interactive. Square Enix is shopping the development studio around, which also means anything related to Hitman is on pause. But that doesn’t negate the fact it’s disappointing we can’t get more stealth-action assassination hijinx. If anything, its absence was a reminder of the directions this series could’ve went and the unexpected situations we could’ve found ourselves in. You’d hope for the franchise and its developers to find a new place to thrive and hopefully continue Agent 47’s legacy.

The Last Of Us: Part II

Having been revealed with a teaser trailer at PSX last year, it seemed a dead cert that The Last of Us: Part II would be shown in more detail at E3 2017. We would get live gameplay, perhaps, or a release date. At least another trailer, surely?

But Sony’s press conference came and went without even a mention of the sequel. Naughty Dog is still working on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy of course, so it’s understandable that the developer might not want to go full on with marketing its next game just yet. But we’re disappointed to not see anything.

Hopefully we’ll hear more about The Last of Us: Part II at Gamescom this year, or failing that, PSX 2017. For now though, it seems unlikely we’ll be playing the much-anticipated follow up before 2018.

But despite releasing Mother 3 in Japan later that same year, Nintendo has made no other Earthbound-related announcements. Smash Bros. still has the two main Earthbound/Mother protagonists as part of its roster, so it’s possible that Nintendo is just waiting for the right time to spring a surprise re-release. But with a new console out and no real replacement for the Virtual Console in place yet, E3 2017 seemed like it would be the place Nintendo would finally reveal Mother 3 in English. Guess not.

Phantasy Star Online 2

It was perhaps foolish to think that Phantasy Star Online 2 might actually surface at E3. More than four years after its original release in Japan, Sega has still provided no indication or when the game will be brought to the West. And it’s not as if the belief that it’s coming is completely unfounded–it said back in 2012 that the game would be coming, only for that to lead to delays that in turn became silence.

And it’s not as if Phantasy Star Online 2 is some dud that the company is desperate to move on from. Sega’s most recent earnings report noted that PSO2 sales “remained robust” in Japan during the latest fiscal year, and it was deemed noteworthy enough to get crossover DLC content in Gravity Rush 2 back in February. At this point, Sega may feel the game is too dated to now debut as a new product, but for diehard fans of the earlier Phantasy Star Online games who are starved for a localized release, it would have been a very welcome surprise to see it show up during Sony’s press conference.

Pikmin 4

It’s hard to complain about games that were missing from Nintendo’s E3 showing when we got two Metroid titles after nearly a decade-long hiatus, but it would have been nice to get some word on Pikmin 4. Miyamoto confirmed that the game was in development a couple of years ago, but he has said very little about it since, other than it was put on the back burner in favor of higher-priority titles. That’s a shame because the last proper installment, Pikmin 3 on Wii U, was one of the best games Nintendo has ever released, and Pikmin 4 would make an excellent fit on Switch. Here’s hoping it’ll sprout up sooner than later.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar is one of the few game developers that don’t have to piggyback on the momentum of E3 to generate buzz and hype surrounding its upcoming games. Case in point: Red Dead Redemption 2.

The highly-anticipated western shooter wasn’t at E3, but we kind of expected this with the company recently revealing that the game would be delayed until spring 2018. Specifically, the company says gamers shouldn’t expect RDR2 until April 2018.

Elaborating on the delay, Rockstar stated, “This outlaw epic set across the vast and unforgiving American heartland will be the first Rockstar game created from the ground up for the latest generation of console hardware, and some extra time is necessary to ensure that we can deliver the best experience possible for our fans.”

The game is set to release on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Rockstar says you can expect to hear more about the game “this summer.” Here are some Red Dead Redemption 2 screenshots to tide you over until then.

Resident Evil 2 Remake

If you saw GameSpot’s gallery on our most anticipated games of E3 2017, you know that I was hoping to see our first glimpse at the remake of Resident Evil 2. However, we didn’t see or hear anything from Capcom about it. With some excellent looking remakes announced in Shadow of the Colossus and Metroid: Samus Returns, it would have been exciting to see Capcom finish off that trifecta of updated visuals with a zombie-ravaged Raccoon City. Sadly, the only news we received about it this past week was dispiriting. It turns out that longtime Claire Redfield voice actor Alyson Court won’t reprise her role, as she says that Capcom is going with non-union performers for the remake. It’s quite disappointing, so hopefully we learn more about the project soon.

Respawn Star Wars Game

Ahead of E3 last year, EA announced that Respawn Entertainment–the studio behind the critically acclaimed Titanfall series–would be creating a Star Wars game as a part of the company’s initiative to create games based in the iconic sci-fi franchise. The game is going to be a third-person action adventure, which has us excited. At the time, Titanfall 2 had yet to release, but with that game already out now, we were eager to hear more about what Respawn had in store for its Star Wars game at E3. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be seen.

Shenmue III

Thanks largely in part to a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $6.3 million, Shenmue III was able to come back from the dead. The first two RPG adventure games were initially released on the Dreamcast. Though neither of them were financial hits, considering their costly budgets, the series developed a massive cult following for their intricate stories and large, detailed worlds.

Unfortunately, earlier this month, series creator Yu Suzuki announced that the game would be delayed until the second half of 2018. He elaborated, “By utilizing new technologies we have been able to discover new possibilities and expressions.” He added, “In many ways, the game has become bigger and more beautiful than I initially expected. We do, however, need more time to deliver the game to you.”

While the game may not be at E3 as a result, the delay suggests that the game will be all the better for it.

Sucker Punch’s New Game

Infamous developer Sucker Punch has been silent for a long time now, and that didn’t change at E3 this year. Sony’s E3 2017 briefing came and went without any new information as to what the studio is making next. Silence is not necessarily a bad thing, as too often it seems games get announced too early and an extended hype cycle can be overwhelming. Intriguingly, PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida recently said Sony purposely held back game reveals from its E3 briefing, with the intention of announcing more games later this year. Here’s to hoping Sucker Punch’s game is among them.

Super Smash Bros. For Switch

After Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime hinted Super Smash Bros. for Switch would come at some point, some people speculated that the game might be announced at E3 2017.

Whether it was to be a completely new version of the game or simply a souped-up port of the Wii U edition was unclear, but it seemed a relatively safe bet for Nintendo’s inevitable one big reveal. After all, it was too soon for a new Mario Kart or Zelda title, a new 3D Mario game was already on the way for the end of the year, and Metroid Prime 4 would never be announced, would it?

Maybe, in hindsight, in a stream that announced new Switch games in the Pokemon, Metroid, Kirby, and Yoshi series, a new Smash would’ve been too much to ask, and it has been less than three years since the Wii U and 3DS versions. Hopefully we’ll get a glimpse of the inevitable sequel at E3 2018.

New Tomb Raider

The supposed name for the new Tomb Raider game leaked late last year from an unexpected source: a person on a subway. A surreptitious photo of a PowerPoint slide appeared to show a logo for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, leading some people to believe the title would be shown off at E3 2017.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Publisher Square Enix made no such announcement and Microsoft–which had a timed exclusivity deal with the previous game in the series, Rise of the Tomb Raider–didn’t reveal anything at its E3 2017 Xbox conference. We know it’s coming, at least: At Gamescom 2015, Square Enix boss Phil Rogers mentioned a “Tomb Raider trilogy,” which so far is only two thirds complete.

It seems E3 2017 was simply too soon for Lara to return–it has only been two years, after all. Perhaps we’ll see more around the release of the new Tomb Raider movie in March 2018.

Visceral Star Wars Game

Last year at E3, Electronic Arts released a cool sizzle reel that showed off glimpses of the many Star Wars games in development. But this year, fans were not so lucky. We saw lots and lots of Star Wars: Battlefront II–but that was it. We didn’t see or hear about Dead Space developer Visceral’s new third-person game that’s being made under the direction of Uncharted director Amy Hennig. That’s a shame, because the first teaser trailer released last year at E3 left us with so many questions and excited for where the game might go. Here’s to hoping we learn more about this exciting-sounding game sooner rather than later.

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Author: Adventures Gate

Hey everyone, I'm Jonathan but people will know me as Jon... I enjoy hiking and exploring the outside world as well as getting to see fantastic views. It can bring you to the most beautiful places on earth and into contact with amazing plants and wildlife and can be done all year round which is why I enjoy it so much despite it being challenging sometimes due to the weather - it has allowed me to meet a lot of new people and experience things I wouldn't have before. I also find it relaxing and interesting.
I also really enjoy blogging and sharing my experiences with similar people. Hopefully you will read mine.
My company Adventures Gate displays my other hobby - gaming! I love collecting items to do with gaming and playing in general. I guess I am a bit of a geek when it comes to this. Adventures Gate now offer free postage options when you spend more than £20 (there may be a small additional charge for larger items). That`s free 1st class post in the UK and free airmail to Europe.
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Hey everyone, I'm Jonathan but people will know me as Jon... I enjoy hiking and exploring the outside world as well as getting to see fantastic views. It can bring you to the most beautiful places on earth and into contact with amazing plants and wildlife and can be done all year round which is why I enjoy it so much despite it being challenging sometimes due to the weather - it has allowed me to meet a lot of new people and experience things I wouldn't have before. I also find it relaxing and interesting.
I also really enjoy blogging and sharing my experiences with similar people. Hopefully you will read mine.
My company Adventures Gate displays my other hobby - gaming! I love collecting items to do with gaming and playing in general. I guess I am a bit of a geek when it comes to this. Adventures Gate now offer free postage options when you spend more than £20 (there may be a small additional charge for larger items). That`s free 1st class post in the UK and free airmail to Europe.